The freedom to criticise the Koran

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The battle for the soul of Islam will be fought by young Muslims -
in the West, writes Irshad Manji.

Tuesday's murder of Theo van Gogh, a Dutch filmmaker who
criticised Islamic practices, reminds all of a nagging truth: that
more than 15 years after the Iranian Government issued a death
warrant against novelist Salman Rushdie, dissenting with Muslims
remains a risky business.

As a Muslim reformer, I speak from experience. My book, The
Trouble with Islam, has put me on the receiving end of anger,
hatred and vitriol. That's because I'm asking questions from which
we Muslims can no longer hide. Why, for example, are we squandering
the talents of half of God's creation, women? What's with the
stubborn streak of anti-Semitism in Islam today?

Above all, how can even moderate Muslims view the Koran
literally when it, like every holy text, abounds in contradiction
and ambiguity? The trouble with Islam today is that literalism is
going mainstream.

Muslims who take offence at these points often wind up
reinforcing them in their responses to me. I regularly get death
threats through my website. Some of my would-be assassins emphasise
the virtues of martyrdom, wanting to hurl me into the flames of
hell in exchange for 72 virgins. Others simply want to know what
plane I'm next boarding, so they can hijack it. Somehow, I don't
feel the urge to share my schedule.

A few threats have been up-close and personal. At an airport in
North America, a Muslim man approached my travel companion to say,
"You're luckier than your friend." When she asked him to explain,
he turned his hand into the shape of a gun and pulled the trigger.
"She will find out later what that means," he intoned.

But, for all of the threats, there's good news: I'm hearing more
support, affection and even love from fellow Muslims than I thought
possible. Two groups in particular - young Muslims and Muslim women
- have flooded my website with letters of relief and thanks. Relief
that somebody is saying out loud what they have only ever
whispered. Gratitude that they're being given the permission to
think for themselves.

That's why I don't take my bodyguard everywhere I go. It may be
necessary to have one when I visit France next week. But in my
day-to-day life, I refuse to be closely protected. If I'm going to
have credibility conveying to Muslims that we can, indeed, live
while dissenting with the establishment, I can't have a big, burly
fellow looking over my shoulder. I must lead by example. So far, so
good.

To be sure, I haven't tried visiting Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia
or Pakistan since the release of my book. (One challenge at time,
please!) Still, the relative safety with which I've debated Islam
in the West - from Britain to Belgium, from Australia to Canada,
from the Netherlands to the United States - convinces me that
Muslims in the West have a sterling opportunity.

Muslims in the West are best poised to revive Islam's tradition
of independent reasoning. Why in the West? Because it's here that
we already enjoy the precious freedoms to think, express, challenge
and be challenged all without fear of state reprisal.

I'm not denying that some Muslims have been targeted for
harassment, profiling and discrimination by Western governments. I
faced the same during the 1991 Gulf war, when I was marched out of
a federal building in Ottawa, Canada, for no apparent reason.

However, none of this negates a basic fact: that if Muslims in
the West dare to ask questions about our holy book, and if we care
to denounce human rights violations being committed under the
banner of that book, we need not worry about being raped, flogged,
stoned or executed by the state for doing so. What in God's name
are Muslims in the West doing with our freedoms?

I know what many young Muslims would like us to be doing:
thinking critically about ourselves and not solely about
Washington. Indeed, a huge motivation for having written my book
came from young Muslims on US and Canadian campuses. Even before
September 11, 2001, I spoke at universities about the virtues of
diversity, including diversity of opinion.

After many of these speeches, young Muslims emerged from the
audiences, gathered at the side of the stage, chatted excitedly
among themselves, and then walked over to me. "Irshad," I would
hear, "we need voices such as yours to help us open up this
religion of ours because if it doesn't open up, we're leaving it."
They're on the front lines in the battle for the soul of Islam.
Whatever the risks to my safety, I won't turn my back on them - or
on the gift of freedom bestowed by my society.

Irshad Manji is author of The Trouble with Islam: A
Muslim's Call for Reform in Her Faith (Random House Australia,
rrp $32.95).